The Strings Tied Around Their Fingers
by barefoot11
Summary: A cat that keeps scratching his ankles leads him to a long lost love. Rocketshippy AU


It wasn't his ideal morning. Not exactly… It was a bit chiller than he'd have liked. The top of his left shoe had broken open earlier, and of course, he hadn't a sock underneath to protect his toes. He realized whatever spare money he owned had fallen out of a mysterious hole in his pocket, his back was sore from lying uncomfortably…

And James had a vanilla cat tracking his heels, its eyes trained on one of his untied shoelaces as it dragged across the cement. It'd been following him for the last six blocks.

The cat was just as pitiful as he was – it had dirt and grim sticking to its skin and fur as well, but, additionally, the poor cat had a rather large and oval-shaped golden candy plastered to its forehead, probably pressed there by some rotten kid.

James didn't want to have the cat attach to him, if he was to show it attention, so he'd been holding off on trying to communicate with it in any way. But as he strolled a less populated sidewalk, and that cat lashed out at the shoelace but missed, cutting open his bare ankles for the _third time_, he gave in.

He rounded to face the cat, and glared at it as threateningly as he could. But he supposed with the redness framing his eyelids, the heavy rings under his eyes, and the pretty green irises, he didn't look that scary.

But what did he care how he appeared to a measly cat? Or to anyone for that matter?

"Listen, pussycat, I have no idea why you're so persistent in following me. Is it the string you want?" James lifted his foot from the ground, letting the shoelace in the cat's line of vision.

Subtly, it seemed the cat nodded.

He disregarded the humanistic motion and simply took into account the greedy widening of its narrow eyes. He perched on the frozen ground, and ripped the shoelace from its socket. He didn't need it, if he was to be completely honest with himself. But pulling it out created another hole in his shoe; oh well. Dropping the string into a pile before the cat, he said, "Take it, then. Now leave me alone."

He swore the cat grinned at him, as it pawed at the singular shoelace caught in its claws, and played with it. With it, it appeared years younger.

James scoffed, and stood up again, relieved to have one problem off his shoulders.

Speaking of his shoulders… they were as stiff as a _board_. Displeasure painted his face, and he tried rubbing out the knots and tangles under his skin with his hands as he walked.

It was about three, four steps before, soon enough; the cat purred and pressed its head to his ankles.

He turned to stare at it incredulously.

It watched him with thin blue eyes.

"What do you want with me?"

Meowing, it rubbed up against him again; James could feel the candy obstructing the contact.

Possibly…?

James bent to its level for the second time. "If I take this off of you, will you leave me alone, cat?" he asked needlessly, as he reached out to pull the sticky yellow candy from the fur.

Before his fingertips even brushed alongside it, the cat hissed and swiped at him. It backed up with the shoelace between its teeth, appearing more menacing than James could ever manage.

"Hey, ow!" he yelled at it. Now he was nursing a bloody hand, as well as torn ankles, because of the thankless cat. "I'm only trying to help you!"

A woman looked at him sympathetically as she walked past; he must have looked so insane, talking to a filthy cat on a furious winter morning.

The cat's long, slender whiskers suddenly twitched in the wind; its thick and black-rimmed ears perked up. It looked about itself with those ominous eyes, and scurried down a dark alleyway. It disappeared as quickly as it had emerged.

Left alone on a desolate sidewalk – the woman was long gone – James was only slightly disappointed.

Even if the cat had liked to cause more harm than comfort, it still would do a homeless man good to have a homeless cat to keep him company.

* * *

It wasn't like… she'd become desperate, or anything. Not at all. She was just becoming… yes; she was becoming more _resourceful_ with her tactics of obtaining a meal. That was it.

Keeping her knees hugged to her chest, to maintain as much body heat as possible, she watched for activity in the alleyway in front of her. Any moment, her little recruit would come back to her…

Unless he'd left her, just as everyone else had…

No, no; she had faith in him. He'd come back, he'd come –

Tiny beats of noise resounded in front of her, shadows moved before her eyes, and quickly, there was a face nudging her leg.

Jessie sighed with relief; he'd come back to her, just like she knew he would.

She tried to see what he had in his mouth. He growled at her, and reared his head back, but she managed to pull it out anyway.

"Meowth," she groaned, in exaggerated frustration, hanging the matted shoelace in front of his visage. "This isn't food. I told you to get food, not a" – He swatted at it, humming. – "plaything!"

Annoyed, she pulled it out of his reach. She assessed it critically. It was a light blue shoelace, covered in a dried mixture of dirt and snow. Her breaths swirled in frigid puffs in front of her. "Where'd you get this, anyway?"

She swore the cat grinned at her.

With narrowed eyes, she tried again to reason with him, "Food, Meowth. _Food_. A fish, bread scraps… _something_. Just get _food_!" She shooed him off, doing her best to keep her tears from her voice.

Meowth made a noise at her; there was something she was missing. Then he turned his nose to the air and pranced away.

She wasn't desperate. She was just homeless.

* * *

James was worrying. Over the years, he'd become great at guessing what the weather would turn into. It was nearly a survival skill…

The wind speed had increased; it was so strong that it actually felt that frozen fingers were threading through his hair. The multiple flurries falling from the sky were getting denser, packing close together like concerned families. Along with the flurries were packets of ice, hitting the places before his feet and he could hear, "You'll stay in line if I have to keep you there myself!"

He kept walking.

But he was worrying not only because the weather was spelling out his unpleasant memories, but because he was far away from his designated safe-zones. If a snowstorm was to blow in, he'd freeze, he was sure of it.

James tried to hunch as close to himself as he could; it was uncomfortable, though it made him walk faster. He attempted to keep in touch with the warm pulsations of his heart, as if by his heart alone he could carry on…

Not surprisingly, the weather started to surround his vision with white. He could barely see his feet in front of him.

Was this it?

Unfortunately, he stumbled – he had to take his hand out from the warm sanctuary of his jacket in order to secure himself. He pressed his palm onto the side of a building; throughout the whiteness, he could plainly see the triple red lines across the back of his hand from that darn cat…

"Meow."

…

Was he imaging things now?

He looked around hurriedly; the stretch of pavement that seconds earlier had been silent couldn't have suddenly been filled with noise…

"Me~ow."

It became more frantic; it needed his attention then and _now_, it seemed.

But James could barely see…

Then, he nearly jumped, when he felt something warm against his leg; and something oval obstructing the contact.

"Meow!"

That bothersome pussycat!

His chest rumbled with a cough; he felt so pitiful.

The cat dug its teeth into the bottoms of his jeans, pulling him forward. Unpredictably, it had the strength of a young, pleading child… He empathized with it, remembering when he'd pull on somebody's pant leg to beg for attention. He never got it…

James wondered what it wanted him to do, or what it wanted to tell him.

And the cat itself suddenly seemed… familiar…

Curiosity peaked; he let the proud cat lead him through a maze of wandering streets and alleyways.

* * *

James ended up somewhere, even with his year or so of experience, that he'd never explored before. It was an alley next to some sort of bike shop, extending far deeper than others he'd seen. The thing so amazing about it, though, was that it had a covering over it – he guessed that the owner installed it to keep his bike dry when it rained.

And apparently stray cats, too.

The cat had released its hold; it walked in front of him, swinging its tail back and forth, and the tip of it was a deep tan…

Wait, now that was really familiar.

He followed it blankly, not even wondering where it was taking him anymore.

The shadows at the end of the alleyway began to rise, and at the moment, he remembered.

James remembered. But, no, he told himself, as his heart began to beat furiously and climb up his throat, it just couldn't be…

Last time he saw her, she had been in the prime of her life, rich and beautiful, forcibly engaged to someone just as wealthy. They'd had to keep the relationship a secret, until her self-proclaimed Mister Wonderful moved them out into the cities.

Last time he saw her, she'd been so sorry, said that if things were different, then possibly…

James wondered: did this new situation qualify as different?

Meowth, was the cat's name, he knew now. Meowth moved to nudge his head against a slumbering form in the corner.

That form, a bit too quickly, was roused and glared blue daggers at the cat. "Did you get actual food this time, Meowth? I've been waiting for – …"

The tired voice stopped, as Meowth took the shoelace from her hands and dropped it on top of James's sneakers.

The sneakers she'd bought for him, the last time he saw her.

Meowth meowed in satisfaction.

At first, James was shocked frozen, his eyes trained to hers like Meowth's had been to his shoelace… Every movement, he traced in his mind… He stepped forward, and bent onto his knees before her. Old emotion was creeping up in his body, circling his heart; it was like he _needed_ to touch her; but he was too afraid.

Fortunately for him, Jessie was experiencing the same sensation, and was less restricted. She threw her arms around his neck, hiding her face into his throat. "My God, I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

He hugged her, brought her closer, his hands on her waist; smaller than he remembered. "Me too… my gosh, me too. What _happened_ to you?" James held her out in front of him, considering her new appearance. Not judging; sympathizing. Wishing he could have prevented it.

"You know that arranged marriages never turn out right… Turns out he was screwing with my worst enemy slash his secretary. How clichéd, right?" She sneered. Her life story was old news to her. Gossip.

"That blonde woman?"

"Yeah. She was a total slut, remember? She even tried to hook you that one time." Her arms were resting on his shoulders; slender fingers mingled with the frayed edges of blue hair. "But the difference is, you've always been loyal to me…"

He pressed his forehead to hers. "So what happened? If it was divorce… shouldn't you be with your parents?"

"I did divorce him, but my parents died shortly after. Car crash, which I think _he_ caused. My parents left me with nothing, too, thinking that oh-so-perfect what's-his-name would keep me wealthy… I think _he_ knew that too." She closed her eyes. "He married the blonde bimbo. Left me with nothing but Meowth."

At his name, Meowth walked over and nudged her side.

She laughed, lightly.

James considered the pussycat, allowing himself a small smile. "And he lead me back to you…"

"I'm surprised," she said; "I thought with all of those beautiful artwork you had that you'd end up famous and wealthy, instead of still so dirt poor, no offence."

James winced. "About that… the person who I hired as my agent ending up stealing everything I had. When I tried to get the paintings back, he claimed them to be his own work… Sold 'em for thousands, last I've seen. But the last newspaper I've read was from November of oh eight. I never managed a steady job… lost the car, then the house, and now even parts of my shoes!"

"That really sucks."

"Tell me about it. But your life's no walk in the park either."

"Ha ha, right?" Jessie smiled at him, and leaned into his chest. She noticed his barely-covered feet. "You still have those dingy shoes?"

He regarded them; supposed he had. "Hey, they were the last birthday gift I got from you. Sorry if I wanted to hold onto them." He paused, looking back to Meowth. "And they're what brought us back together again, in the end."

Jessie scratched behind her cat's large ears. "I guess you're right… Things are finally looking up…"

* * *

**A/N**: I have a bunch of AU!Rocketshipping ideas running through my head right now, it's not even funny~!

The person she was forcibly engaged to was Butch. (Imagine that, ha!) But he cheated on her with Cassidy, so.


End file.
